Business

Inside 'DuJour': Designing a Magazine for a Multi-Device Age

This fall, Niche Media founder Jason Binn, Gilt Groupe and Hudson News made a bold bet on the magazine business at a time when many titles, both new and old, are downsizing or shuttering altogether.

Unlike many of the magazine launches we've followed over the last year (Cosmo Guy, Huffington, Quartz), DuJour was released simultaneously in print, online, and for mobile, social and email platforms. The title, which targets consumers with an average income above $250,000, began with a print run of 250,000. Its website was optimized for tablet and smartphone reading from inception.

Among magazine websites, DuJour's design is both original and refreshingly streamlined. One can recognize immediately that it's meant to be read on a tablet. Visitors can choose to peruse content in HTML5 or flip through a digital replica of the print product.

We spoke to Keith Pollock, co-editor in chief of DuJour, about the challenges of designing a magazine for multi-device consumers.

Q&A With Keith Pollock, Co-Editor in Chief, DuJour

DuJour launched simultaneously in print, on the web, and for smartphone and tablet devices. Why was it important to launch on all of those platforms at once? When and how was that decision made?

It was always our intention to create a 'device agnostic' experience. We not only launched a magazine and website — we launched an entirely new brand, and it was essential for DuJour to look and feel cohesive across platforms. While we look forward to adding more platform-specific features we were excited to launch a product that did not restrict access anywhere, regardless of the device or technology being used.

From a design perspective, what challenges did the multi-platform launch present? How did and do you keep the design consistent and optimize for different platforms at the same time?

The multi-platform launch and consistent design meant that we needed to make targeted sacrifices when building the product. As an example, the hotspot buttons on images had to be kept a certain size so that you could interact with them on mobile while not obscuring the image during regular viewing. We'll be improving on this over time, but it worked well for launch. And we're continuing to learn from our users and optimize content, navigation, and performance across different platforms. Our strategic partnership with Gilt has been instrumental in our launch.

How do you use design to convey that DuJour is a luxury title?

Lots of white space and original photography. We chose fonts that we felt were sophisticated, one being a serif and the other being a bold poster font. The combination of the two is quite elegant.

Tell me about your design team. Who leads it? How many are full-time and how many are on contact? How were you able to recruit talent that could design for print and digital?

We have an art director on staff who oversees the magazine and website. Previous to DuJour, I was the editorial director of Elle.com. I brought my art director here when I came. When I started talking to Jason Binn about the opportunity here at DuJour, I knew I wanted to bring her over with me. She had absolutely no print experience, but she has an unparalleled work ethic and great instincts. In retrospect, it was kind of foolish to hire an art director to design a magazine when she had never laid out so much as a print page. But in a month's time she was completely fluent in magazine design. The web stuff is very easy for her.

What agency or agencies did you work with on the original designs?

We launched DuJour print magazine and website simultaneously. Early on we hired a design consultant to help us develop the visual identity of the brand: the logo, the fonts, colors, type treatments. We spent several weeks working on the prototype. We worked with Code&Theory to design and develop the site, and these conversations were happening in tandem. Code&Theory made suggestions for the site that actually informed the look of the magazine, so it was quite a unique experience.

The design of DuJour's website is unusual. It is clearly optimized for leisurely reading on tablets — not, I would argue, desktop or on-the-fly reading. Why is that?

It was important for us to design DuJour's digital presence to complement the print product. The physical magazine is an oversized, glossy quarterly meant to grace coffee tables, accompany travelers on flights, and absorb readers in feature articles and photo shoots. DuJour.com was created with the intention of translating that luxury, immersive experience online. That being said, we're continually optimizing the site so that the content is easy to access regardless of your reading style or device preference.

DuJour.com lets readers read the magazine in HTML5/web native and as Flash embed of the print edition. Why is it important for you to offer both?

There is no reason for us not to offer both. Being a truly integrated print and digital product, the rendering of the print addition is provided to give users the quarterly magazine experience and flow as added value and fulfills the promise of the integration online and offline.

You haven't yet launched a native app for iOS or Android tablets. Will you? Why or why not?

We may take advantage of a native experience for additional features built on top of the current web content. However, our end goal is a single cross-platform experience, so if we do make that move the native app will not significantly differ from the web experience.

Where do you go personally for design inspiration?

Everywhere! Instagram is a huge source of inspiration for me right now. I’m constantly searching sites and have countless Tumblrs bookmarked. When my co-editor, Nicole Vecchiarelli, and I started back in May and were discussing the look and feel of DuJour, we bought vintage magazines from the '80s and '90s, screen-grabbed a hundred sites. I seem to recall looking at a party invitation that helped inspire some of our color choices. We were, and continue to be, all over the place in our search to find inspiring design.

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